Following Christ - what is the difference

As I'm sure you already know there is no difference in the passages.

I guess the point you are trying to make is that people have an inconsistent standard in interpreting the passages, doing so according to what suits and does not inconvenience them personally.

If so, I agree.

MR

 

Mt 8:22, what I was told was that the man wanted to go and bury his father, who wasn't dead yet, so he was waiting till then(after his father's death) to follow Jesus, putting off following HIm till it was more convenient. I do not think it is reasonable to say Jesus is saying you can not go to a funeral of an unsaved person.
Both instances Jesus was not giving us instruction, but talking to specific people about them, about where they were spiritually in their lives at that moment. But there is application for us, many are in the same places spiritually, waiting till convenient to follow, or thinking their works are the same as following, and not willing to do what it really takes to follow Jesus..

 

Well said, everyone so far!

 

Of course you are right Roger.

 

I think it's possible to overanalyze Jesus' words.

 

I agree with Johnv.

We don't know that the disciples father wasn't a follower of Jesus, do we? Is Jesus talking about the spiritually dead or the physically dead.

We go to funerals to comfort the living. They've got nothing to do with the dead really. Again, I keep thinking about the folks with whom Jesus associated -- I think we can do great harm to our testimony by seeming "holier than thou."

I also keep thinking that us Baptists aren't correct in all areas.

 

Neither. Jesus was calling the man to put God first, and people second. The man in question ws putting off following Christ until his father was dead and buried (we don't even know if his father was even dead yet). Jesus was not forbidding him from attending to his father.

If there were a song that depicts this, it's "Cat's in the Cradle" about a man who keeps putting his son second to other things. By the time he realizes his mistake, it was too late.

Ya think????

 

I agree with Johnv.

We don't know that the disciples father wasn't a follower of Jesus, do we? Is Jesus talking about the spiritually dead or the physically dead.

We go to funerals to comfort the living. They've got nothing to do with the dead really. Again, I keep thinking about the folks with whom Jesus associated -- I think we can do great harm to our testimony by seeming "holier than thou."

I also keep thinking that us Baptists aren't correct in all areas.

 

I agree, mcdirector. I have never been to a Catholic Church, but I would have no problem attending a wedding, funeral, etc., of a friend at a Catholic Church. Just because you attend a wedding, etc. doesn't mean you agree with Catholic doctrine.

 

I went to a Jewish wedding once. I must tbe hellbound.

 

In these verses and others Christ is telling us what it means to be a Christian. It means living our life so that He is our master rather than the world. He tells the one man that following Him is more iportant than burying his father because that is getting in the way of the man surrendering himself totally to Him. In the other case, the wealthty values his possessions more than his faith.

Christianity is not easy and it does not consist entirely of accepting Christ 25 years ago at a revival. It's an ongoing journey upon which we are constantly tested by Satan. Think of the one thing that YOU love most in THIS world. That's what Christ is saying you must make secondary to your faith in order to be a faithful follower(and to be saved).

Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

 

I don't believe that not attendng a funeral or selling everything you have literally applies to everyone. I think these commands are specific to the individual and represent excuses or other gods that are preventing them from surrendering their life to Christ.

I'm an engineer and I love computers. Maybe I need to rethink how much time I spend on them relative to the amount of time I serve the Kingdom. Of course, the computer, like money, isn't intrinsically bad and can be used for His glory.

 

Neither. Jesus was calling the man to put God first, and people second. </font>[/QUOTE]I agree with you, I guess I was referencing the other thread where people kept talking about letting the dead bury the dead because they were spirtually dead. I was trying to make a point that it didn't matter (point obviously not made!)

We need to put Jesus first. That may mean letting all kinds of different things take care of themselves.

 

Good words, mcdirector.

I'm still waiting for one of the local legalists to berate me for having attended a Jewish funeral.